VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY IN PAIN REDUCTION

Abstract

Opioids are widely used during painful medical procedures even though they can lead to the development of an addiction. Studies have examined alternative pain management techniques, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, in addition to opioids to reduce opioid consumption or boost pain alleviation. In recent years, virtual and augmented reality have both been found to be effective pain management supplements to opioids. This study aims to examine the difference in effectiveness between augmented and virtual reality technologies in pain reduction; and augmented reality and preferred music in pain reduction. Participants underwent a virtual reality, augmented reality, and music condition during the cold pressor test. Analysis reveal that virtual reality is more effective than augmented reality in reducing both objective and subjective pain for an individual while the augmented reality and music provided comparable pain reduction. When catastrophizing thinking was taken into account, virtual reality increased only an individual’s pain tolerance. These findings suggest that virtual reality is a more effective analgesic than augmented reality for individuals who do not catastrophize while augmented reality is no more effective than music as an analgesic.